Day 11: Feelings Are Important!

One quick note on this and the next few entries: I am attempting to take my handwritten entries from camp and put them into digital form. Hopefully I can make sense of most of it.

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Having reread the Lazarus story, it is a little perplexing. "Jesus wept." The shortest sentence in the Bible, and yet so full of importance for us. Does He cry out of empathy for Lazarus, or for the pain of the sisters? Or sadness for their lack of faith? Or is it just a true human response to the agony of a loved one dying? We know that He waited to come because He wanted to dispel any rumors that Lazarus wasn't really dead (and four days in a sealed tomb would o the trick). We have to remember that our Saviour FELT the gamut of human emotions- happiness, anger, frustration, love, distress. . . so why are we so quick to hide our emotions from the Father? After all, emotions in themselves are not sinful; what we do with our emotions can be. And it's not just feeling emotions we get from Jesus- He felt them deeply. I mean, He sweated blood!

An important point- Jesus didn't deny emotions0 He denied Himself by not always bowing to them. I think this is the explanation I have been seeking. Emotions are legitimate, but our way of handling them is VITAL, and emotions do not HAVE to control our every choice. On the other side, denying emotions can also lead to problems, especially with relationships. We can't ignore and yet can't be controlled by emotion. That's a tough balance to strike.

Point to Ponder: Jesus took his own emotions seriously, and so he expressed those emotions openly and then chose to act lovingly.
Most important words in that statement: chose to act lovingly. If anything we need to remember, it is that love is not an emotion, but a choice and an action.

Verse to Remember: John 11:35- "Jesus wept."
Jesus! The guy who died for us! The Son of God! Creator of the universe! CRYING!

Question to Consider: Is there a feeling in my life that I haven't dealt with?
Of course. I still struggle sometimes with inadequacy- feeling that I am not living up to some invisible standard. What I'm starting to realize is the truth of the statement that God accepts me for who I am but loves me too much to leave me where I'm at. I also need to realize that the gifts and circumstances that He gives me are not above my ability to handle, as long as I am relying on His strength. When I feel inadequate it can only be because I am trying to accomplish MY goals in MY strength, or maybe even trying to make HIS goals in MY strength; I need to continue to strive to be at the place in my life where I am striving towards HIS goals in HIS strength.